Stiffer rear springs for an '89 GL?

[ZRX Doug]

Well, got the trailer hitch situation sorted out okay..now I'd like to get the rear of the car to sit at stock height when there's a couple hundred pounds of tongue weight hanging off the back end.

The car's an '89 4x4 GL wagon. Is there a stiffer spring on a different model I could swap in, or is there some other cheap & cheesy trick you guys can recommend? I don't mind a little bit of added ride height when it's unloaded, but it tends to wander when the rear is sagging under load.

[Hodaka Rider]

Cheap and cheesy: 86-89 Honda Accord front springs. Your rear end will go up an inch or two unloaded, plus they are stiffer. I suppose you could cut a coil off to bring it back down in height (still keeping the better load capacity).

[daeron]

from what I hear about the accord spring conversion, and what I have gathered of your personality and tastes thus far, the accord springs are EXACTLY what you want... easy as pie, ask and ye shall receive, huh?

[ZRX Doug]

My personality & tastes*? While I try to figger out if I should be offended or flattered, I reckon I'll hustle on over to the local scrapyard and grab me some Honda springs..

 

 

*(Champagne taste, beer budget..personality I just borrow from my dog when he's not using it.)

[Phizinza]

A mate of mine has accord springs in the rear of his 88 wagon. He liked them alot til they blow the bottom spring cap off it's mounts on the shocker.. It happened while offroading. We figured when the shock the travel goes up the spring is first to collapses instead of the shocker, thus putting HEAPS of pressure on the spring cap and poping it off it's mounts. I believe they are just slid on the shock nd the shock haspressed out casing to hold them.. If you cut a coil off this MAY fix the problem.

What my mate has done now is welded the spring caps on MUCH better and custom mounted external Toyota shockers which have way more travel then he'll ever get, but at least it won't break now. Me, personally, would of gone about things a different way. But it seems to work good.

[ZRX Doug]

Okay..I did the search & read all the posts about Accord springs..seems that they're actually a touch too tall and a touch too stiff by and large.

Cutting a coil will just make 'em stiffer..

But, as I said "Champagne taste, beer budget"..so I'll look for a high-mileage set that appear to be somewhat clapped out.

[ZRX Doug]

Man..talk about a junkyard adventure. I found a pair on an '87 Accordian (heh-heh) that had a hundred-fifty some thousand on the clock, pulling 'em was pretty simple with no drama..just unbolt the strut nut, and the spring shoots the strut down safely..it's got nowhere to go (assuming the suspension is still intact). Once the strut nut's loose, just unbolt the upper control arms (easy access under the hood) and the suspension will drop far enough to extract your new springs.

The only problem I had was finding a Honda with a pair that weren't broken..took eight Accords before I found one with both springs intact.

Go figure. And a steal at under seventeen bucks for the pair as well..neat!

 

I think I'm gonna see what I can do about cobbling up a pair of adjustable lower spring perches before I add these to Sue's suspension..riding around with the rear suspension jammed against the upper stops doesn't really sound like a lot of fun.